David's Son

Then He said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”’
Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his son?”
And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.” Luke 20:41-47, 21:1-4

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

Quoting Matthew Henry's Commentary: "It was plain by many scriptures that Christ was to be the Son of David; even the blind man knew this (ch. 18:39); and yet it was plain that David called the Messiah his Lord (v. 42, 44), his owner, and ruler, and benefactor: The Lord said to my Lord. God said it to the Messiah, Ps. 110:1. Now if he be his Son, why doth he call him his Lord? If he be his Lord, why do we call him his Son? This he left them to consider of, but they could not reconcile this seeming contradiction; thanks be to God, we can; that Christ, as God, was David's Lord, but Christ, as man, was David's Son. He was both the root and the offspring of David, Rev. 22:16. By his human nature he was the offspring of David, a branch of his family; by his divine nature he was the root of David, from whom he had his being and life, and all the supplies of grace." Psalm 110:1 "the Lord said to my Lord..." The Son of David was also the Lord of David. The Messiah was David's human descendant and divine Lord. We'll learn more about that footstool.

Almighty God, Sovereign of the universe, creator of all that is, became human in order to be our Savior. This was decreed in eternity past by the God the Father, enabled by God the Holy Spirit and executed by God the Son. The One presenting this seeming contradiction to the scribes in the presence of His disciples was eternal God. Of course He was David's Lord. In the incarnation, He became David's Son, as the New Testament geneaologies demonstrate. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the Jewish Messiah. He is the passover Lamb. He is the final Judge.

Having delivered this question to the religionists, Jesus issued a warning to His disciples about the scribes. They were the students and expositors of the law. They had reputations of wisdom and honor, but were enemies of Christ and His gospel. Jesus' warning: do not emulate the scribes. They were pompous, arrogant hypocrites. They enjoyed all the perks of high society, but were complete phonies in reality; blind to the truth of the gospel. Ignorant of the evidence of the Messiah. Taking advantage of widows who depended on their help. Pronouncing long public prayers to impress the commoners, and each other. They will be held to a higher standard of responsibility and receive a greater condemnation than those who are only following their false religion.

Then He called attention to the wide gap between the relative pittance the rich were contributing to the temple treasury and the comparatively enormous offering being given by the poor widow. They gave a small portion of their riches. She gave all she had. The offering is evaluated on the basis of spirit and motivation, not on the basis of "dollar" amount.

Hypocrisy performs. Love gives.